#MustReadin2018!

I know that it's long past the time that my other book-loving friends have posted their must read lists for 2018. But, the last time I checked, Carrie hadn't closed the gate yet. So here I am, on the last day of February with my stack of books that I must read in 2018.

1. Chicken Boy by Frances O'Roark Dowell
a leftover from a summer of reading chicken titles several years ago

2. How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor 
How can it be that I still haven't read this book?

3. A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff
Highly recommended by my middle school readers in book club

4. Matylda Bright & Tender by Holly M. McGhee
Won this book from a giveaway on Linda Baie's blog

5. A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lord 
Purchased after I heard Cynthia Lord speak at Western Washington University's Children's Literature Conference in 2017

6. Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
a title I've started twice and loved but never finished

7. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
my one nod to YA, unread from last year's list
(Can you tell that I love mostly middle grade?)

8. Hello Universe by Erin Estrada Kelly
this year's Newbery winner!

9. Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech
a parent told me once that this was the book that made a reader out of her son.

10. Greenglass House by Kate Milford
a title I discovered from a list of cozy books for winter reading

11. Looking Back by Lois Lowry
an ARC that I borrowed from our middle school librarian and promised to pass on to one of the classroom teachers

12. Poems Are Teachers by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
a book that made me break my promise to self to not buy any more professional books 
13. Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers by Ruth Ayres
Not in the stack of books pictured because I just have the electronic copy. I gave my print copy of the book to my niece.

Last year was the first year that I joined this group. I'm keeping my list to a baker's dozen of thirteen titles because I'm an easily distracted reader. Except for the two library books in the stack (#s 8 & 10) and the electronic version of book #13, all the other titles were pulled from my own bookshelves. I want to read these books so I can share them with teacher friends still in the classroom and make room on my shelves for more books.  My want to read list grows with every blog post I read, every visit to a bookstore, every list of books that I discover on the web, and every time I visit my local library. I want this list to be something that I might attain in 2018!